Twelve Days of an Appalachian Christmas VII :: Fireside Games, Divination, and Storytelling

 
Reading in Christmas in the Mountains about games played around the fire on Christmas Eve makes me remember those Winter days when we couldn't go out for recess.  The teacher would play games with us and it was always such fun.  We'd play "Good Morning, Mr. Judge", "Heads Up, Seven Up," and "Four Corners."  There were so many, though I'm not sure I'd remember the rules to all of them.  We'd always clamor for more. 

The games Mr. Davis lists those that are like "nutting," where you make guesses about numbers: Hull Gull, Jack in the Bush.  They guessed using pieces of parched corn, which was also a snack.  This idea is explored in the The Children of Noisy Village, and might be a good way to introduce such a game to children.  "Old Granny Gobble" sounds like it was a clapping and pounding game, which would be well suited to a homeschool environment (you have to remember the ever-lengthening sequence).  Not to be missed was "Snapdragon," where the players try to snatch raisins from a bowl of flaming brandy, a Victorian favorite.

Christmas Eve and St. Thomas' Eve were both good times to try out a little divination.  The most common things to divine were the identity of one's future husband and his age. Going to bed with holly (or in older times, an onion!) under the pillow with these words would aid things:

Good St. Thomas, serve me right,
And send me a true love tonight,
That I may gaze upon his face,
Then, him in my fond arms embrace.

If that didn't work, you could always hang out by the pig pen around midnight.  In an old hog grunted first, you'd marry an old man.  A young shoat, a young man.  There was a fair bit of cheating in that superstition, with girls shutting up the older animals.

Christmas, what with its get-togethers was a wonderful time to tell stories of all moods, reverent and otherwise.  The book tells what might be the quintessential mountain tale of a Winter so cold even words froze up.  People would have to sit by the fire and thaw them out just to hear them!  There's the magical German tale of a poor family who takes in a lone boy and awakens to find him transformed into the Christ-child.  And lastly, Mr. Davis shares the story of "The Lord for Dinner" where a woman turns away numerous needy guests, all her Lord in disguise. It's a traditional lesson in hospitality, though the days of strangers coming to the door (think The Waltons) are long gone.

I really want to travel back in time and celebrate Christmas with these folks, don't you?